


The Hacker and The Thief

by cutelikeliv (stileshxle)



Series: taking every step to steal your heart [1]
Category: Leverage, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Harry as a quirky thief, Liam as the aggravated hitter, M/M, Zayn as the quiet mastermind with a smoking problem, Ziall on the side, focuses more on larry, leverage - Freeform, louis as the hacker, niall as the actor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-15
Updated: 2014-06-17
Packaged: 2018-01-19 13:04:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1470862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stileshxle/pseuds/cutelikeliv
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Trailer:<br/>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdrgS9s_riQ&feature=youtu.be</p><p>*CURRENTLY REWRITING*</p><p>It's a cruel world where cruel people live. There are the bad men, powerful men. The one that take advantage of the people below them for their own personal gain, the ones that are small and weak. The one's that can't stand up for themselves, that don't have a voice. </p><p>                                      Well, that's where they come in.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The First Job.

**Author's Note:**

> Bold lettering means that they are talking over coms! btw. Happy Reading!

Harry really hadn't planned on hanging upside down from a 21-foot tall building at 4:32 in the morning. So it's funny how that's exactly where he was. It started out like any job started, yet Harry could feel that this wasn't going to be like any other job he had done.

It was _different_ , and Harry knew. And the more he thought about it, the more the feeling grew. It started in the pit of his stomach and became almost like a thrill. As if he was scared to do something, and once he started, he didn't want it to stop.

I mean, Harry wasn't scared of much, but he was sure he was scared of this new feeling. He was used to going with the flow, (with the way he grew up it was pretty hard not to), but he felt it and it was different and he wante - " **Can you hurry it up, Tomlinson? We don't have all night**."

A deep voice came in from the small com that was stuffed in his ear, disrupting his train of thought. " **Do you want to do what I do, Payne?** " Another voice mocked, this one slightly more feminine. (okay, but that was because Louis' voice was a bit higher than the rest of the lot.)

" **In fact, I don't even know what you do.** " He continued to ramble, the slight sound of typing going into Harry's ear as he sighed, his head was starting to hurt as he felt the blood rushing down (toward's his head), still hanging upside down, the wires and safety restraint of his gear clinging to the bone of his hips.

" **Guys!** " A booming voice came over, slightly more accented as it screamed through the small com's, causing them to vibrate slightly from their place in his right ear.

" **Liam's right, we really don't have all night and you have five minutes until the old guards come off duty and a three-minute window between the switch, so be quick.** "

"Got it, Zayn." His own voice said, the wind making him have to be slightly louder than usual, before flipping himself over, (to face right side up).

"Vibrations are on." he heard himself say, shooting a quick peak over at the black box on the side that clung to the inside part of the window, a bright green light emitting from it.

" **No freelancing, Styles.** " Zayn demanded, " **Use the binary.** " Harry rolled his eyes at him (even though he couldn't see), but continues to pull the device from the inside pocket of his jacket. He swiped it up against the glass and cut a hole through the big window of the rather large building, got his tall, lanky legs through, and landed on the wooden desk blindly before flipping off, unhooking himself from his gear as he landed onto the ground and smirked internally at the swift move.

"I'm in." He concluded, hearing the three ' **okay's** ' echo in his ear and nodded to himself, seeming to remember that there was actually a mission at hand, people relying on him. " **Okay, Styles,** " Zayn's voice states a few seconds later, informing him of what to do next.

" **Get to the hard drive,** " his voice pauses, and for a second Harry thinks that it froze, and momentarily has a mini panic attack that he's alone, alone with no exit, until, " **Then you know what to do next.** " he concludes, and Harry's pretty sure that Zayn is nodding to himself in reassurance in the building across the street.

The plan was simple. Get the plan's back (for some plane, or something, Harry didn't really listen much.) from the company that stole them, and that's that. It's supposed to be easy, a quick steal. Get in, get out, maybe give them a virus, or two. That's what he did. Although he thinks Zayn has more than a few plans up his sleeve if things go wrong. He was a _thief_ , plain and simple. But what if Harry wanted more? What if he craved more than this, than this simple life?

He wanted a _rush_ , or, a challenge. Something equally exciting. Unfortunately, not everyone got what they wanted in life. But, was it so bad to _want_ something? To not be alone? Unfortunately, that pretty much sums up this kind of lifestyle in a nutshell.

As Harry searched the place, careful not to trip over the alarms he knew were there, he opened the small door to the left, noting the wires that connected to the small computer that was sitting on the desk in the middle of the room.

He sat down, swiveling once in the chair before reminding himself that he had a time slot. Harry typed the code into the small keyboard, gaining himself access to the camera's that monitored the building. Harry knows this is the part of the plan that Liam and Louis go to the computer room on the 11th floor, so he opened the doors that allow them to go through without alerting security of the break-in.

"Doors are open." he says, ignoring the replies that come through and continue to watch the security sitting in the small room, watching the many TV's that show them the building, and saw that there are only three of them, which Harry finds a bit odd. "Problem." he exclaimed to mid-air, the small com's picking up his voice like a speaker as he figured out what was happening.

"Guards are doing they're walk though an hour earlier than normal." He sees the other two guard's walk down the hallway near him from the video camera's and sighs, _why does everything have to be so complicated?_

Harry heard Zayn sigh in annoyance as Louis' agitated voice went over the com's, " **Why the fuck are they doing that so early?** " Harry's realized that Louis only curses in necessary situations, so when he does, it's a pretty big deal. He finds himself waiting until Zayn figures out what to do next. " **They probably want to watch the play-offs.** " Liam answers, then mumbles, " **Just like I want to.** "

" **Okay.** " Zayn says, (almost cheerfully?), ignoring Liam.

" **Then, let's go with plan B.** " Harry leaps into action, typing away to make sure the elevator's stop and go to the floor he wants them to. Harry hears shuffling and can only hope that Louis and Liam are in position. Liam complains over the com's about ' _how they don't fit correctly in his ear_ ' and, " **What the hell is a ' _com_ ' anyways?**" Louis' voice comes over again before Harry could just tell them ' _shut up and stop bickering._ '

" **They're conduction air piece microphones! For the last time, they work off the vibrations in your jaw.** " Liam makes a noise in the back of his throat, that Harry thinks is because he might be more than slightly impressed, but he doesn't say anything more than a " **hpmh . . .** ", and more shuffling, which let's him know that they're done talking and back to business. Harry sees them (from the screen in front of him.), Liam and Louis, walk towards the room where the files are held.

Liam throws him a small box and Louis nods back at him, hooking it to the wires that he disconnected previously from the password box, that connected to the heavy door. " **Ten digit password . . .** " Louis whispers to himself, slight awe in his accented voice.

" **I salute you, sir.** " He says jokingly, waiting for the password to load on the screen. Harry sees the guard's walk towards where Louis and Liam are situated and voices his concerns. " **Liam, what I want you to do is clear the zones,** " Harry doesn't know what that means but he's pretty sure Zayn just told Liam to punch them, (the security detail), if it comes down to it.

It's not like Harry didn't like violence, he just didn't want to get so many people hurt for information about _planes_. 

" **and I want you to use Tomlinson as bait.** " There's a pause, before Louis starts complaining, his voice more squeakier then before as it comes through Harry's ear. " **No. No, no, no. I will NOT be anybody's bait.** " He stuttered, and makes it pretty clear that they know how much he is against doing this. 

" **Come on, work for me, please.** " Louis begs, and he hears hitting, which only means that he's trying to make the password download faster by hitting the small machine. 

The security team reaches the end of the hallway to turn and harry makes a small noise in that back of his throat. "Come on, Louis," he whines, shaking his hair a bit from habit and hoping that they make it in time. "they're almost there." He doesn't know these lads enough to trust them, but hopefully they will come through and not rip him off, hopefully, they're _okay_.

" **Forget it**." Louis continues, and the sound of footsteps is heard before Harry looks back at the screens again to see that the guards have approached them and are holding, what appears to be, guns. _Great_.

For a minute, Harry thinks they're doomed, and he closes his eyes for a moment before the sound of grunting and hitting is heard. Harry's eyes shoot open and sees Liam start to take out all of the guards. Harry stares at the screen is fascination. He knew Liam could fight, but, _wow_.

Remind him not to get on his bad side. Louis stands there, mostly wide eyed as Liam just finishes with, "That's what I do." (while staring Louis in the eyes.), in that moment, a beeping sound is heard, and by the look on Louis' face, Harry could only tell that the password has downloaded.

The door opens, (to where the files are held.), automatically and Harry smiles, feeling a bit giddy that they actually did it. Now they only have to get out. " **Guys, guys,** " Zayn's voice is heard, agitation clear. " **You have to talk to me, I have no idea what's going on.** " Louis speaks, and you can practically hear the smile in his tone. " **Relax, Malik,** " A shuffling is heard and Harry sees that they walk into the small room.

" **It's all good, I'm stripping the drive right now.** " A loading noise is heard and Harry stands up from the small chair he was previously sitting in, stretching and headed down to meet up with the two of them so they could leave exactly the way that they planned.

" **We are leaving this place bare**." Louis continues, " **like, _naked_ bare.** " Harry lets out a breathy laugh at Louis' sense of humor and shifts the small bag from his shoulders. " **Did you give them a virus?** " He hears Liam ask afterward, Harry still walking down the hallway.

" **Mate, I gave them more then one virus.** " Louis reassures him and harry hears more footsteps. A beeping sound comes from the small device in his hands and he takes a small look at it, seeing information on the alarms in the building. He lets out another sigh at what he sees, running a hand through his curls once more. "Problem." He says once again, and feels a strange sense of deja vu.

"The alarms are back up again, we have no way out." He pauses. "Which means we can't go up." They planned to go back up through the roof, using the zip line that leads to the building that Zayn is occupying. " **Every man for himself.** " Liam states. " **That's fine, go ahead,** " Louis says calmly, shaking the USB up in his hand mockingly. " **I'm the one with the merchandise.** " That was true, but Harry wouldn't mind the 300,000 dollars he gets for doing this job, so he would rather not do ' _every man for himself._ '

Harry hears Liam pause and he continues to type on the touch screen device. _There has go to be a way out._ He continues to type, searching and searching. _Gotcha,_ he thinks as he finds a way out, and replies back sassily over the coms. " **Yeah, well, I'm the one with an exit**." Zayn's voice comes on then, and you could tell he was absolutely done with all that they had to say. " **And I'm the one with a plan.** " Harry sighs. It was almost 5:00 in the morning, and he really wanted to get some sleep.

" **I know you lot don't play well with others and are used to working alone,** " Harry just shrugs his shoulders, then feels a bit ridiculous because no one was even in the hallway with him to see the gesture. " **But I need you guys to hold it together for, at least, seven more minutes.** "

Harry gives himself a small pep talk and walks again, heading the opposite way. " **Now head to the elevators, and go down.** " He pauses again and Harry decides he is really sick of Zayn pausing all the time. Harry has a feeling it's because he wants to act all mysterious and shit, but it's really starting to get on his nerves.

Once he reaches the elevator, it opens, Liam and Louis looking back at him from inside as he goes in. The elevator slides shut, and Harry immediately takes off his shirt, ripping inside the bag that he was holding and seeing the other two boys do the same, undressing and changing into the other outfit that was stored inside. He ignores the way Louis stares for a moment before shaking his head and continuing to dress himself. " **Were going to do the blind scam.** " Zayn finishes.

A few minutes later, the doors slide open and Harry could hear the security guard exclaim that he thought they shut down these elevators.  _Well, they had, but Louis had undone it_ , he thinks silently. Harry smirks before getting into character, leaning on Louis and Liam (who were wearing suits) for support while they walked out, the metal coldness of the walking stick in his hand keeping his mind occupied and he tried not to speak, knowing he was that bad of an actor and didn't want to ruin all they had done tonight.

He tried to keep his eyes steady on something else, to make it look like he couldn't see, when he heard Liam exclaim, "Why don't you stare a little more?" and he knew that the guard was staring and tried to bicker back in character, making up a fake name in the process.

"No, Tom, it's okay." Harry tries to pretend stutter and moves his arm around a bit, pretending to struggle before putting it on Liam's shoulder in a show of pretend gratitude. "No, it's not." Louis replies for show, most likely giving the security guy a glare. 

He makes some small whining noises, as if he was in pain, and then feels the breeze of wind, knowing they were outside and the guard couldn't see them anymore, he opened his eyes, moving out of character, walking faster, before jumping into the car that had just pulled up, throwing the walking stick in the back seat and stepped into the front passenger seat, knowing the others were behind him and Zayn was driving. Liam got in last, and they drove off into the early morning.

* * *

 

Harry sighed to himself looked at the now familiar faces around him as they stood in a circle on top of the roof. They were nice lads, and under different circumstances Harry could say that they could've been friends. Louis had a laptop in his hand, typing something while the others stood there awkwardly, waiting for him to finish, Or rather, Harry stood there awkwardly, the others just looked bored.

"The designs are sent." Louis exclaimed, his voice cutting through the eery silence. "The money will be in your accounts later today." Zayn confirmed as Louis shut the laptop and zipped it into a small bag. Harry pulled the tiny com out of his ear and handed it over to him, seeing the others do the same. Before they could leave, Louis announced, "Anyone noticed how hard we rocked last night?" a small smile on his lips amusingly.

"Yeah well," Liam replied before turning away, "One show only." Harry nodded and walked towards the way they were heading. "I already forgot your names." He shrugged nonchalantly. He didn't, and he actually liked being part of a team for once, with people you can count on to have your backs if something went wrong. He wanted that. They all started walking away, and well, _that was that_.


	2. The Betrayal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello. Just wanted to know if this story is a bit confusing for some of you? If it is, i would appreciate the feedback so i can try and fix it, making it less confusing. Enjoy!

Harry's money wasn't in the bank account he set up the other day for the last job that he had done. He had gotten a text the morning he woke up; _plans didn't get transferred, meet at old warehouse in half hour to get the funds. - Zayn_. He was sent an address afterward and even though Harry knew it was sketchy, he went anyways, figuring it wasn't going to be that bad.

Once he got a cab and finally left towards the warehouse, it was already around four in the afternoon. ( _Which meant that it was ten minutes later than he was supposed to meet them._ ) He knew he might be the last one there, but it wasn't really his fault that the plans didn't get transferred to the original boss.

 Harry walked in quietly, hearing Liam and Louis bicker back and forth, just catching the end of the conversation. " - you did it, when we were coming down from the elevator."

Liam cuts him off, a sarcastic look on his face, "Oh yeah, that makes sense," he rolls his eyes and stands in front of Louis calmly. Harry peaks out from behind the box that he's hiding behind and sees a gun pointed at Liam, Louis gripping it tightly, his hands slightly shaking.

Harry looked down at his hands to see a similar device in his grasp and continues watching, not once making a sound. "You had the file every second." Liam finishes as Louis begins to protest. "I did my part! I transferred the files."

Liam nods sarcastically. "What did you do?" Louis continues, "You didn' - " Louis gets cut off by a newcomer. "HEY!" Zayn yells, walking into the room, making them both turn towards him. Louis switches the gun towards Zayn as they both face him. "Did you do it?" Liam asks, a rough tone to his voice as he asks accusingly.

Louis moves the gun back towards Liam, Harry thinks it might be because Louis trusts Zayn a bit more than he trusts Liam but he shrugs it off, deciding not to make himself known yet. "You know," Zayn starts as he walks up to both of them, facing Liam as he speaks. "You seem pretty relaxed for a guy with a gun pointed at his head."

Liam just shrugs and looks at Louis nonchalantly. "Safeties' on." Louis looks at him through narrowed eyes. "Like I'm goin' to fall for that." Zayn nods in reply, "No, he's right," he gestures to Liam. "safety _is_ on." Louis goes to check, turning it around loosely, and Zayn grabs it out of his hand in one swift movement.

Zayn moves to pocket the small gun and asks Liam, "Are you armed?" Liam shakes his head swiftly "I don't do guns." he replies gruffly, shrugging lightly at Zayn and Louis.

Harry gets up now, patting down his jeans from the dust that was left in the concrete floor and walks towards them, clicking the gun in his hand into place, making them all turn from the sharp sound, Louis' gun pointed at him from Zayn's hand. "My money's not in my account." he states the obvious, walking up to them.

The gun was pointed at Zayn, only because Harry thinks the others are telling the truth to a certain extent, and joins them in the small circle.

Harry feels that if one of these lads screwed up, it was most likely Zayn. Not just for the fact that Zayn wears leather jackets, _and Harry is suspicious of anyone who wears leather jackets_ , but also because Zayn is always silent, like he's planning something. "Styles," Zayn says calmly, his arms up in surrender as his dark eyes keep level with Harry's emerald ones. He moves the gun to face down, leaving it clicked on, just in case, and listens to what Zayn has to say, his face bare of his emotions.

"Now, did you come here to get paid?" he questions, a look of curiosity in his features as he looks them all in the face. Harry stays silent, while seeing Liam do the same. Louis takes this as his chance to speak, replying to Zayn's earlier question. "No way, mate," he pauses."Transfer the funds, global economy."

Liam speaks afterwards, "This is supposed to be a walk away." Harry looks at the faces of the other two boys, silently agreeing with Liam but also slightly happy, thinking that maybe this is fate, maybe for some reason unknown to them, before turning back to Liam.

"I'm never supposed to see you guys again," Zayn nods slowly and looks at us with what could only be described as amusement. "So the only reason your here is because you didn't get paid," Zayn pauses, nodding his head slowly. "and your pissed off." he starts laughing then and Harry thinks he is officially confused, or, that Zayn is _crazy_.

Maybe both, if he's being brutally honest. "Matter of fact," he continues after he calmed down from his unknown laughing fit.

"the only reason to get us all in the same place at the same time is to tell us that were, Not. Getting. Paid." He finishes, laying down attention onto the last three words before looking at all of us in the eyes, and Harry holds back a gasp, realization taking over his features as he realizes what this is. This is a _set up_. He takes off, the others flying close behind as he races out of the old building.

Harry hears Louis trip and he reaches blindly for the older boys shirt, mumbling, "Get up!", quickly before picking him up swiftly and jumping out the door just in time for the place to blow up, pieces of metal, and sparks of fire flying in the air as he lands on the rough ground, his ears ringing in response. A few minutes later, (although it feels like hours), he get's up, seeing the three other boys do the same.

They stare at each other in silence, looking around the destroyed warehouse, still trying to process the fact that Mr. Dubenich had set them up; _tricked_ them. They couldn't think, all of them were feeling stupid for not seeing the double cross sooner and to be honest? They all didn't seem to know what to do next.

* * *

"Four first class tickets to anywhere, but here, coming up!" Louis exclaims after they walk into the apartment. Harry's eyes search the place, stopping at the warm colors of the sofa and the cool pool table on the left side of the flat. "Who's place is this?" Harry whistled lightly, impressed at what he sees. Louis turned around as he walked towards the computer in the back of the room. "It's mine." Harry nods back absentmindedly, his mind still reeling from what had happened previously.

Clearly Liam held the same opinion, "I'm going to beat Dubenich so bad, even the people who look like him are going to bleed." Harry leans back on the wall, watching the others take places around the room. "You won't get within one hundred yards," he mumbles lightly. "He knows your face," Harry pauses, "he knows all of our faces."

Liam turns to him, an aggravated look on his face.  "He tried to kill us."  _Thank you Liam, I didn't realize that_ , He thinks silently before replying back. "Most importantly," Harry goes to cross his arms over his chest, "he didn't pay us." He sees Liam look at him, eyebrows raised, with an even more frustrated look on his face, if possible.

"How is that more important!?!" Liam's arms are up now but before he could say anything further, Louis interrupts from his seat at the desk.

"Hey mates, get a look at this," he points to the screen showing a newsletter regarding what they had done the night before. "Dubenich's story is actually ninety percent true. He is the head of Bering aerospace, big rival of Pierson," he pauses, his blue eyes sinking into Harry's emerald ones. 

Harry gets distracted, lost in his beautiful - _focus, Harry_. 

Harry snaps himself back into the conversation, figuring he should probably listen about the guy that almost tried to kill them; _tried to kill him_. Louis speaks up again, clicking and typing things on his Mac, licking his fingers vigorously before continuing.

"But, look at what my little web crawlers coughed up," Harry moves his head to get a better view of the screen, seeing the others do the same. A small video is shown, an interview with what harry guesses is this rival of Dubenich's; Pierson, the man they stole the airplane designs from the night before.

"We've lost research, that we've been working on for more than five years." Harry's eyes widen slightly at what the man says, the speaker of the computer making his voice sound slightly scratchy. "Our servers have been sabotaged," he continues, looking straight into the camera. "Now we are going to pursue these perpetrators to the full extent of the law."

"Could be a cover story." Zayn interrupts, looking at the computer screen with such intensity as if it's going to start talking back to him. _Oh yeah, that'll happen_.

"I'm looking through last nights information," Louis replies, looking over at logs on the second screen. "Eternal time stamps on the projects, 2005 . . . 2004 . . . 2003 . . . and way, way down the line." His voice trails off, then he looks up, staring Zayn in the eyes and shrugging, "No reason to fake those, mate."

"So we didn't steal the plans back?" Liam questions from near the pool table. Harry pushes himself off the wall, walking towards the kitchen to get a glass of water before replying. "Nope." He walks back, water sloshing around in the clear glass that he's holding. "We were just stealing them."

Louis spins in his chair, "But, why would Dubenich lie to us?" Zayn replies before the rest of them could. "Because your thieves," _No, really?_ Harry thinks to himself, silently rolling his eyes at the subtly. "If he hired you for a straight up crime, you would've known he was a bad guy, like you, then you would be suspicious. This way, all you saw was another citizen in over his head," Zayn pauses, looking over at our reactions before continuing, "And that's why you didn't see the double cross coming."

Harry replies quickly before the others have a chance to, "then why didn't you see it coming?" Zayn stays silent, as Louis hands us pieces of paper, not saying anything in reply. He thinks that, that might be a bit _suspicious_ , and put's it into the back of his mind when he realizes that Louis had handed him something; a piece of paper. Harry looks down at his hands, seeing a ticket to Rome. _First class_.

"Your running." Zayn states, keeping his eyes trained on the two computer screens behind them, slouching slightly, while mumbling to himself. "Your. Running." Liam looks at him as if he's a nut case that had just broken out of an insane asylum. "Yeah, you got a better idea?" Harry's sure that Liam meant for that to be sarcastic but Zayn's probably got a better idea anyways, even if he does look like he just escaped a crazy house.

He mumbles to himself more, and Harry thinks that Zayn might be talking to the picture of Mr. Dubenich on the screen instead of them. "Well that was certainly a high risk play. You have your hands tied up, with your share holders meeting coming up and all." Harry can officially say he's confused at what Zayn is trying to say. "No, we can't let this guy have any time to cool down." Liam looks at him, an incredulous look on his face.

"You want to run game on this guy?" He looks at Zayn, his eyebrows raised so high that they almost reached his hairline. "You?"

"Yeah," Zayn replies, as if stating the obvious. "I mean, this guy is greedy, thinks he's smart, he's the best kind of mark." Harry looks at them, a sly smirk on his face as he points out, "He does think he got rid of us." Louis looks at Harry, a smile growing on his lips. "Element of surprise." he drags out cooly.

Liam perks up then, looking at Zayn once more. "What's in it for me?" Zayn just shrugs, looking at the screen's while replying to him all at once. "Payback," he pauses looking up, "and if it goes right, a lot of money."

Harry looks at them, biting his lip before stepping forward, trying to make himself seem more intimidating, he doesn't think it will work, since his acting skills pretty much suck and the fact that he wears his heart on his sleeve, but does it anyways.

"What's in it for me?" he asks lightly, moving his feet slightly in a small show of nervousness. "A lot of money," Zayn pauses again, "and if it goes right, payback." Harry smiled and meet's Zayn's eyes while nodding slightly in a show of agreement, stepping back to take his previous position against the wall.

Louis smiles from behind Harry, and Zayn looks at him for some sort of approval. "Tomlinson? You in?" Harry turns to him to gauge his reaction, and sees a mischievous glint in the older boys eyes as he replied, making Harry almost laugh out loud at the response.

"I was just going to send a thousand porno magazines to his office, but hell yeah, lads!" Louis nods along furiously as he speaks. "Let's do it!" he finishes. "What's in it for you?" Liam asks suddenly, and Harry finds himself thinking the same thing. Zayn just shrugs, "To right, a wrong."

That's all he says as he walks towards the door, his mood perking up as he leaves, "Alright, let's go get _Nialler_!" He says it playfully, so playfully that Harry has a hard time telling if the lad is being serious or not.

Liam stares at his back in question. "What the hell is a _Nialler_?" Louis questions incredulously as the rest of them turn to follow Zayn. _Guess were about to find out_. Harry thinks, _Oh, this is going to be good._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! xx


	3. Meeting Nialler

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I know that this is going a lot by the story line of the show, and I realize that. But it's only because i want to introduce the characters and the storyline before delving into it. Thanks for reading! xx.

Harry leaned against the velvet chair, cringing as his fingers brushed over a small piece of gum that was stuck there.

The others stood up against the wall in the back, conversing among themselves as Harry stared at the boy that was on the stage. Sweat glistened on his forehead as his bright blue eyes shined with excitement and adrenaline.

The boy wore a medieval costume, the golden encrusted crown sparkling upon his head. The boy looked innocent, his voice enthralling and beautiful. Well, except for the words that were coming out of his _mouth_.

“Come, you spirits!” The boy yelled, dragging the words out of his mouth as he used eccentric hand motions.

“That tend on mortal thoughts.” Harry looked to the side at Zayn, his eyebrows lifted in question at the man’s incentive, seeing the others do the same.

Liam opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by a loud yell from the stage, “Unsex me here!” Harry let a grimace show on his lips at the boy on the stage, thinking that maybe Zayn just liked him, (Harry couldn’t see how he didn’t), and he felt bad for him, which is why he wanted to add him to their little group.

“He’s _very_ awful.” Louis stated, looking at Zayn pointedly. Harry felt immediately bad after saying it, but he couldn’t stop himself, “Is he injured?” He paused looking from the boy to Zayn.

“In the head?” Liam spoke up after him, still staring at the boy with an unidentifiable expression.

“Seriously, mate,” Harry stared at the boy, his head turned in confusion. Why did Zayn want him of all people? Even though Harry thought _his_ acting was bad, it was nothing compared to this.

“This is the worse acting I’ve ever seen.” Liam finished, still staring at the stage with a grimace. Harry looked around the small theater, seeing three, or four people sitting on the small cushioned chairs.

To be completely honest, Harry thought they looked bored as they drooled from their mouths. Sleeping instead of giving the blonde boy their attention.

Zayn placed his hands on the wall to push himself off of it, moving to walk out the door as he gave us all a vague answer.

“This is not his stage.” Harry glanced at his back in confusion, watching him walk out through the back doors, the light of the moon intruding on the darkness from the theater.

* * *

 A car honked at their parked car in the small alleyway near the theater they had walked out of, and Harry turned his head slightly to just miss the headlights as they swerved, the small shadow of a finger sticking up in his direction.

Rude.

“No. No, no, no.” Liam protested from his spot next to Harry’s. They were standing against the small car, as Zayn stood at the end of the alleyway, waiting for the blonde boy, that had just walked out the back door, to notice them.

“Did I mention, no?” He continued before Zayn interrupted. “Harry’s right though,” he argued, glancing at him over his shoulder. Harry flushed slightly at the praise, before crossing his arms over his chest at the cold.

“Dubenich knows us,” Zayn turned back to see the _blue eyed boy_ , (as Harry was now referring to him as), rummaging through his pocket.

“and we need a fresh face.” Zayn started clapping loudly, breaking the silence as the sound echoed on the brick walls.

The boy, or man, rather, looked up, his blue eyes immediately meeting Zayn’s before turning to study all of them in confusion, snapping back to Zayn in awe.

A small smile curled their way onto the blue eyed, blonde boy’s face, “I thought you were great.” The boy chuckled at Zayn’s attempt at small talk, moving his head a bit to the side to study the three of us as he continued to reply back, “My only fan,” The boy teased lightly, his irish accent more prominent.

“So, what are you doing here?” he continued, glancing pointly at him. Zayn mocked shock at the small jab, and Harry didn’t think he had ever saw him get that loose with anyone before, but stopped, sensing the boy would rather get to the point then walk around it.

“Need your help with something," Harry tuned out as Zayn started to explain to him the situation, instead Harry turned to glance at Louis, who was shivering from the bone chilling cold that hung in the air that night. harry shrugged off his jacket, handing it to Louis without a word.

He wasn’t worried about the cold because he had another jacket underneath. Plus, having survived in much less, he already knew how to deal with it. Louis turned to give him a gracious smile and he smiled back, glad to have made a new friend, despite the situation.

“So, you in?” Zayn’s voice interrupted his train of thought, forcing him to listen back in. His eyes were drooping lowly, thinking about the long day they had previously, and just wanted to get some sleep. “I wouldn’t miss this.”

“Alright!” Zayn chirped turning back to face them. “Let’s go break the law one more time!” The other boys introduced themselves to the newcomer as they got into the car, and Harry overheard the new boy say his name was Niall. _  
_

Harry thought it suited him, as he glanced over from his position in the car. Harry listened in, eavesdropping as other prefer to call it.

He was Irish, different front he other lads. “What’s your name, lad?”

“m’ names Harry,” he mumbled, introducing himself before leaning his beanie covered head onto the window. "Nice to meet you,” he closed his eyes, falling asleep to the soft sound of Niall's laughter, and hinting that maybe this was the new beginning he was finally hoping for. Maybe they would all become a different type of family. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just want to let you guys know that I love feedback, so don't hold back! Haha. xx.


	4. Phase One.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the repeated chapter last time! Hadn't even realized I posted the same one as before until I read the comments, so thank youuu! Also, the bold lettering means talking through coms. Thanks for reading! xx

“Now, Bering Areospace is in charge of some government defense contracts,” Louis moves his hands elaborately, a carefree look on his face as he informs that rest of us about some of the information we will need.

“Some Department of Defense research, very classified stuff.” Harry hears some crunching afterwards and ignores it, deciding that instead of sitting in a corner, maybe he can ask questions too.

“Can we use that?” Harry inquires, tilting his head to look at Louis from his spot on the couch. Harry feels as if they had designated roles before, and now they are switching it up.

He thought maybe Zayn was going to lead this ‘ _meeting_ ’ they were called to do at eight in the morning, but apparently not. “No, I don’t think so,” Louis replies. “Dubenich is in charge of all there commercial airline business’s”

“I know when you sent Dubenich’s designs, you weren’t supposed to make any copies,” Zayn states, looking at Louis from behind the couch. Louis looked at him, his eyebrows raised in question at what the older man was trying to imply.

“No, I promise,” He remarked, then moved his hands in what Harry thinks looks like a _Hunger Games symbol_. “Scouts honor, and all that shit.” Zayn just rolled his eyes, staring at him. “Show me your copies.”

“It’s okay,” Louis shrugs, the corners of his mouth rising, as if he couldn’t help but smile as he handed them over through the USB. “I wasn’t a scout, anyways.” Harry chuckles at his antics and moves his eyes back up to the screen.

He saw plans show up on the screen, digital blue prints of an _airplane_ , from what Harry can see clearly.

“It’s an airplane.” Liam states the obvious, dragging it out slowly, as if he had believed it was something other than that, something more important, or _valuable_.

“Its a short all-domestic airliner,” Zayn corrected, leaning on his elbows to see the screen closer. “Usually one hour flights, very fuel efficient, high tech.” he continues as we all stare at him, “Very nice carbon nose,” he finishes, mumbling off to himself.

Liam looks openly at him, eyebrows raised. Zayn just shrugs, “You pick up things here and there.”

“You pick up a lot of stuff.” Louis mutters from his side of the couch, causing Harry to burst into laughter.

He doesn’t understand why he finds it all that funny, but still emits small chuckles after the initial laughter is over, tossing another piece of popcorn into his mouth.

He figures if maybe he makes this job humorous, he won’t stop and think about the fact that they are going after a guy who tried to kill them all, well, except for _Louis_. Which, then gets him thinking about _Louis_.

Now Harry really needs a distraction.

Liam just looks at him sideways, a blank look painted in his features. “Guys,” Louis says, attempting to get our attention. “Now,” he continues, rotating his vision from one of us and the screen mounted on the wall.

“Dubenich and Pierson have been head, to head, for like, five years,” Louis clicks a button on the small remote that he held in his palm. Harry strays his attention towards the screen in front of them once more.

“They both spent years trying to make it in an industry that’s worth, like, eleven million dollars.” he continues, the screen changes back to pictures of both of them, Dubenich and what, Harry assumes, is _Pierson_.

“Pierson got there first?” Harry clarifies, looking from the screen to Louis.

“but Dubenich took the shortcut.” He nods to himself, letting the information settle in his brain. Harry tends to be slightly forgetful, and doesn’t want to ultimately let anyone down by not knowing the facts about the job.

“He’s got a rival,” Zayn states. “that pisses him off so much that he hired us to steal his designs,” he pauses moving from one side of the spacious apartment to the other.

“This is good,” he mutters to himself. Harry adds this to his mental list of why Zayn is most likely _mentally crazy_.

Louis speaks up for the first time, his delicate features looking thoughtful as he tips his head up to stare at him. “What are you thinking Zayn?”

Zayn just mumbles something about Nigerians and walks out the door, letting it slam on his way out. They all stare at one another, before deciding to follow him like _chicks_ follow their _mother duckling_.

Harry didn’t know where they were going, but figured it probably has something to do with the plan. So they start, _just like that_.

* * *

 The friction between Harry’s elbows and the material underneath him screeched uncomfortably as he moved around. He lifts his hands up, moving to adjust the small headband that contains the light he needed to see inside the small space.

The light turns on and allows him to see the ceiling on top of him.

Wires show in the small box, and Harry searches his eyes until he finds the two he needs, tuning into what was happening underneath him as his hands moved to complete the simple task. “ **Your nine o’clock is here** ,” the young secretary says absentmindedly, and Harry hears the typing an footsteps stop through the coms.

“ **My nine o’clock is . . .** ” Mr. Dubenich’s voice drifts off from the intercom and Harry figures that he’s staring at Niall, who should be sitting in the small waiting area, like they had planned deliberately the week previously.

“ **Mr. Dubenich** ,” Niall begins, gathering said man’s attention, and Harry hopes that the blonde boy doesn’t ruin the job for all of them.

He hears Louis voice the same thoughts out loud, “ **Here comes the mountain of suck**.”

Harry just nods in reply, only to realize that he’s in a small vent above the office while Louis is half across town in an apartment with Zayn.

So, he just focuses on the task at hand, hearing Niall’s voice in his ear as he monuvered the wires to connect the call.

The com tickles in the inside of his ear, the vibration of voices causing it to shake uncomfortably. “ **Arnold McPhire, african commercial transport and trade initiative,** ” Niall introduces to what Harry assumes is Mr. Dubenich.

He pauses his hands for a moment, slightly shocked that Niall can pull off a Russian accent pretty well, considering he's irish, as well as the fact that, well, he’s not that _awful_ as they predicted previously.

He hears Louis say the same, stating “ **but he’s not awful.** ” and Zayn replying “ **Niall Horan is the finest actor you have ever seen** ,” he pauses, “ **When he’s breaking the law.** ”

Harry thinks that’s most likely why Zayn had made them hunt him down, driving to a whole new town to look for the blonde boy. Niall also mentioned, in passing, that Zayn was a friend of his from a long time ago, so there could be multiple reasons as to why Zayn had chosen him of all people. Although Harry has a slight intuition that they might have been more than just _good, old friends._

He tunes out for a moment, missing the conversation when Niall tells Mr. Dubenich the rehearsed story of ‘ _who he was and what he did_ ’. He knew what he was supposed to tell him.

Niall was supposed to tell Mr. Dubenich that he worked to create jobs and trade in Africa, and that he also worked to keep the graphed and steering manageable.

He tunes back in once more, and hears Zayn give the call to start the first phase of the plan, and begans to hurry his movements, multitasking as he concentrates on what’s going on at the same time that he tries to finish what he has to complete on time.

Once he connects the phone line, he hears Zayn start to give his commands to Louis, “ **and now** ,” then hearing the soft chuckles flow through his ears, “ **I got this,** ” the beautiful boy's voice infiltrating through his ear.

“ **I know what I’m doing.** ” he hears silence afterward, and can only assume that by the small sound of typing, that the plan is a go.

He was lying flat out on his back, the cold metal coming into contact with the skin shown through the peak of where his pants ended and shirt began.

He wasn’t particularly uncomfortable with his position, actually quite liking the confinement and safety that it vibes off, reminding him of the long nights he spent underneath his bed, not minding the small security that small spaces give off.

The small phone Harry holds starts to ring and he answers it, letting it pause for a moment before continuing to speak in the rehearsed monotone words, “Hello? IT.”

he hears a small frustrated sigh come from the other end, the background noise filled with ringing phones and the shuffling of copy paper. “Hi, this is Victor Dubenich’s office,” Harry smiles to himself, Louis did good. “My computer completely crashed.” she proclaimed, most likely clicking any of the few buttons to get it to magically turn on.

Yeah, like that would happen. With the likely hood that Louis actually did an okay job, he probably made the thing completely crash within itself, and the fact that clicked a few buttons wouldn’t get it to magically well, _not crash_.

“Oh well, I’m sorry to hear about that.” Harry real wasn’t but decided that maybe you couldn’t hear the complete disconnection of emotion in his voice. “Have you tried turning it on and off again?” Louis' voice came through again. “ **I taught him that,** ” and hearing Zayn make an unimpressed sound from the back of his throat.

“Nothing seems to be working,” the secretary admitted and Harry just nodded to himself again like an idiot. As if there were actual people here in the tight space to see him agree.

“We’ve got someone on your floor already.” He says again, feeling the words repeat in his head on a loop. “Thank you . . . ” she says arruptedly and he knows Liam is walking towards her pretending to be the IT’s computer guy, so Harry just moves to get out of the small vents, unconnecting the wires and turning off his com as he gets out, lifting himself down and hearing the same voice he had heard on the phone.

The secretary was talking to Liam, twisting her hair in what Harry thinks is an attempt to appear flirty. Liam pretends not to notice, trying to get her attention away from what Harry was currently doing. He landed on the soft carpet floor, flipping around flexibly to land as quietly as possible, giving Liam a secret smile, flashing his dimples before speeding off, sliding himself into Mr. Dubenich’s office and finishing off phase one.

He sighs, plugging in the _USB_ to delete all the files from the man’s laptop. It finishes quickly and he places the object underneath the wooden desk, glad to have his part of the plan completed when he walks out, running a hand through his _curly_ hair.


	5. Phase Two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember; Bold is talking through the coms. Also, switching up point of view half way through the chapter! Thanks for Reading! xx

“Zayn,” Louis calls out from his place at the desk. “got all those finances you wanted off his hard drives,” Louis continues as Zayn approaches him with a smile.

Louis just smirks slyly and looks back at the screen, pointing something out to Zayn that Harry can’t see very clearly.

“all his passwords.” Louis finished while Harry rubs his eyes, feeling the drowsiness that follows from the long nights that he has been having so far.

Zayn pats Louis on the shoulder, gratitude written on his face as he walks away towards the pool table where Liam was staring intently at the balls. _Most likely trying to figure out a strategy_ , Harry notes, before tuning back to his dilemma at hand.

He sits on the couch, biting his lip as he looks at the file plans that are placed on the large coffee table.

He shoots a look of anxiousness over at Zayn in worry, putting the file plans aside in his mind for now. He was minding Zayn’s key facial expressions, trying to figure out if he had missed something major in their small team.

Harry wasn’t the one to miss details regarding something that he was doing. And even though he had overheard a conversation that he was pretty sure he wasn’t supposed to hear, he still wanted to make sure that the older man was okay to finish the job, with the people involved in it.

The conversation he had overheard wasn’t something he had done on purpose, although if he had the choice to listen to it again, he probably would have. Even if it runs in Harry’s had in a constant loop.

_He had been in the kitchen late at night when he heard a small murmur of voices coming from down the corridor. Harry had recognized Niall and Zayn’s accents as they conversed. Or, Niall was conversing._

_Zayn was just mostly silent, Harry only knowing he was there from the slight hums in response to Niall's sympathetic whispers._

_“You look better,” Niall voice had started, and he peaked his head around the corner of the fridge to see that they had stopped in the middle, the faint outline of two bodies from the light of the moon through the sliver of the curtains._

_“then when I last saw you,” The boy had continued, looking from Zayn’s face to his soft socks on his feet. “I know why your doing this job, Zayn,” he had admitted, finally tilting his head upwards slightly to look Zayn in the eye._

_The man in question simply raised his eyebrows, staring at the younger boy back with a similar look to what he was given._

_“It wasn’t that hard to figure out,” Niall continued, and Harry didn’t really know where this conversation was heading, choosing to continue to listen as he shifted his foot from one leg to the other._

_“Dubenich screwed you, and in your good guy brain,” he gestures his hands in a particular movement that he couldn’t see clearly. “you see him as the bad guy, so your conscience is cleared,” “Niall,” Zayn interrupts sharply, his voice cutting through the soft silence of the night._

_A sharp contrast to Niall's soft voice. “you and I are not friends,” Niall just bites his lip, not taking the comment personally as Harry would have, before slyly smirking at him._

_“Right,” the boy confirmed sarcastically. “because you have so many of them,”_

_Zayn just turns away before looking back and for that moment Harry thinks that they saw him, and he stands as still as possible before -_ “Hey,” Niall's voice interrupts his train of thought, knocking him out of his small flashback.

“Could you help me with this earpiece?” He watches from across the room as Zayn just glances at him. 

“Why don’t you ask Tomlinson?” he manages to stutter out, keeping his eyes steady on the game of pool that him and Liam had started.

“C’mon,” Niall whines, his head slightly tilted at Zayn, and he just bites his lip at the small sound coming out of the man’s mouth.

“Please?” He continues to beg, moving closer to Zayn, pulling lightly at his brown roots, nervously. 

Harry watches as he brushes back a few strands of the other boys hair and stares longer as their eyes connect for a moment.

Harry just looks away, deciding to focus on his task instead of someone else's business. He glances at Louis from where he's concentrating on the job, typing on his laptop, the glasses on his face about to fall off of his nose. He feels his cheeks tint pink and looks down, breathing heavily. 

* * *

 Harry moves to get a more comfortable spot, before realizing that these chairs are really uncomfortable regardless of how you attempt to sit in them. _No matter what position_.

He just sighs, giving up before turning to Zayn, whose sitting next to him in what he assumes is the comfier chair. He stares at the man, squinting his eyes from the sunlight that burns directly into his emerald orbs.

Zayn keeps his eyes trained on the entrance of the building, not even turning his head before speaking directly at Harry, “No,”

Harry opens his mouth, before closing it, like a fish. He stays silent for a few seconds before he couldn’t help but blurting out, “You didn’t even know what I was going to ask!”

Zayn finally turns to him, the exasperation clear in his features, his eyebrows raised in defiance at the inquiry. Harry just sighs again, biting his lip as he sinks down into the metal chair, the side poking into his rib.

The sound of an engine turns his attention towards the street, ignoring the random people that were walking passed. He sees a sleek, black car pull up in the entry way, the door opening and closing swiftly, both of the boys eyes now trained onto it.

Zayn speaks underneath his breath into the small com in his ear, and Harry hears it repeated in his ear, the sound breathing deep shivers into his spine, “ **He’s on sight** ,”

Niall's voice comes through a few moments after, slightly muffled, “ **Got it,** ” Harry watches Dubenich move to go through the doors, catching a glimpse of Niall through the doorway.

“ **Do they appreciate it when they have you nagging in their ears the whole time?** ” Niall's voice continues, not stopping as Zayn turns to look at Harry, “I don’t nag.” Zayn states firmly, watching as Harry nods sarcastically, moving to pat his shoulder before leaning back into his original seat.

A slight scoff is heard in response to the statement through the vibrations in his ear and Harry hides his smile in the sleeve of his jacket, ignoring Zayn’s pointed looks from across the small outdoor coffee table.

* * *

Niall scoffs at Zayn’s statement through the coms before getting into his _actor mode_. He then moves towards the doors in front of him, wiping his face free of his previous emotions as he holds the door open to the building for Mr. Dubenich.

He purses his lips in character as the walk through the corridor. “One thing,” Niall starts as they enter the elevator, his fake Russian accent moving through his words. “The gentleman bringing you this opportunity to work with their government,”

He turns his head and looks to see if the older man is following what he is saying before continuing his practiced line. “They’ll expect some,” he moves his hands around slightly, to make the act more believable, and pretends to find a word, “compensation.”

Dubenich just hums, and leans on the heels of his feet, back and forth. “Not a bribe, of course,” Niall quickly adds, watching as the older man turns his head to the side to look at him.

“A finer’s fee,” the man corrects and Niall smiles internally before nodding at the man. “Exactly,” he replies.

“I thought your job was to elliminate graph and stealing?” Mr. Dubenich questioned, looking at him with raised eyebrows. He smiles at him, trying to keep the man from becoming suspicious.

“No,” he shakes his head. “I just keep it manageable,” the elevator doors slide open, and he gestures his arms towards the long hallway in the opposite direction, leading the man towards the supposed conference room.

As he follows through the corridor of his supposed office, he passes the sign planted on the wall outside the office that read, _African Commercial Transport and Trade Initiative._

 _Liam has done well_ , he ponders, _considering what he had done earlier_.

He stops for a moment as he observes the sign before walking past it towards the large set of double glass doors. He opens it for Mr. Dubenich, waiting as the man walks through the entry way. _First part of the plan_ , he thinks, _is complete_.


	6. Let's Finish This.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a reminder, Bold means talking through coms or microphones! Thanks for reading! xx

“He’s closing it up,” Zayn mutters, glancing at the tall building across the street inconspicuously. Harry just crosses his feet, dangling his set of long limbs on the metal table in front of him, glancing at Zayn momentarily.

He closes his eyes, listening, as the voices come through his earpiece, adjusting his beanie on his head with his hand as he concentrates on shutting the loud chatter of noises from the coffee shop adjacent to them.

“ **\- about the other matter . . . ?** ” Niall's voice drifts off, and Harry hears a sudden reply to the vague statement. “ **Of course,** ” one of the nigerian men say, his voice gruff and _subtle_.

There’s a long silence as Niall's footsteps are heard through the coms, the sound of switching papers shuffling in the background.

Harry opens his eyes to look at the others around the table, searching into their expressions for something other than professional.

“ **Is that agreeable?** ” Niall's voice comes through hesitantly and Harry hides his smile at how excellent the plan is coming together.

They gave him the supposed contract fee of _one million dollars_ , hoping that that would be enough for Mr. Dubenich to agree, so that they could start the next part of their plan.

Liam shifted his eyes at Harry, moving his shoulder in question as he raises his broad eyebrows.

“What?” he asks aloud, wondering what Liam wants to ask him, getting nerved by the way he stares at him intently.

Liam just shrugs his broad shoulders, his lips turning up into what, Harry detects, is a small fake smile. “Nothing,” he replies gruffly and Harry lets it go, deciding to figure out what drama there is to figure out later, focusing on the mission, or task, at hand.

“ **Oh,** ” Mr. Dubenich’s says, he hears a smile through his tone. “ **I think we can work something out.** ”

Harry moves to get up, but Zayn motions for him to wait a moment before they head out. “ **Excellent,** ” Niall mutters, the sound of him clasping his hands heard through the coms as they come to a finish soon.

* * *

 Harry hears a car door shut across the street, and spots Niall standing in front of the large, glass doors to the entrance of the building. They all stand up, and he leans his hands on his knees as he gets up, taking off his beanie to shake his hair out before putting it back on.

They make their way down the street and Harry sees Louis rush up from the opposite way to stride with them as they all meet up around Niall, the car rushing away with perfect precision. “We got him?” Zayn questions, have stating the statement as he turns to Niall, wanting to get the whole story before continuing.

“We own him.” Niall corrects, smirking slyly at Zayn. Harry catches Louis' eyes and he winks causing Harry to duck his head with a small blush blooming on his cheeks.

“Okay, gang,” Zayn starts, clasping his hands in front of him. “Let’s go, we’ve got a busy day tomorrow,”

They all start walking, heading towards the parking lot and splitting up to go into their respective cars, their coms still hooked up. “This is going to work, right?” Niall asks, his voice slightly hesitant.

“I guarantee it.” Zayn reassures and Louis turns his head around to lock eyes with Harry. He smiles, dimples forming on either side of his cheeks, and Louis smiles back in return.

"Is that doubt in my skill I hear, Horan?" Louis replies to Niall's earlier comment, and the team laugh at the statement. 

* * *

Louis motions for them to come closer, pointing to the screen blindly. Harry stands up from his place on the couch, watching as the others do the same.

They head to the computer desk where Louis sits at, and he types something into the keyboard as they all lean in to investigate.

Voices come through the speakers that Harry helped Liam and Louis set up the other day, muffled before turning clear.

“ **This is insane,** ”

Harry realizes it’s the small mic that he hid in the office the other day, along with the _fake_ transmitter.

“ **We are risking everything!** ” a small voice is heard, and it slowly drifts off as Dubenich’s comes in immediately after.

“ **Shhh!** ” and shuffling is heard as they get closer to the mic.

“Do you think they found it?” Harry says, smiling from ear to ear and watching the others wear similar expressions. “Most likely,” Liam shrugs.

“I honestly didn’t think it would work,” Louis confesses, glancing at Zayn and Harry before turning back to the screen. They hear a faint whisper and it’s most likely because they stepped away from the mic, as _farthest_ as possible.

“ **What is that?** ” The same voice from before asked curiously.

“ **It’s a transmitter,** ” Mr. Dubenich replied. “ **They’ve been listening to everything I’ve been saying,** ”

“ **Who’s they?** ”

“ **Who do you think?** ” he states “ **Also,** ” he pauses and they all lean in closer. “ **I’ve checked,** ” Louis types more codes into the computer, turning up the volume. “ **There is no office for _The African Commercial and Trade Initiative_ , anywhere in the city,**”

“ **They’ve been hustling me, and I know exactly what they’re doing,** ” Harry just smirks. _Sure you do_ , he thinks sarcastically.

“ **Tomorrow,** ” he continues fiercely. “ **It stops,** ”

“ **Get the FBI on the phone,** ”

Louis turns to look them all in the eye, watching as they all start to smile and smirk at each other. Zayn speaks from the back of their small crowd around Louis' laptop, “ _Let’s finish this_ , Lads!”


	7. Where did he go?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, so, so sorry! It's been a while since I've updated and then I updated another story and blah, blah, blah, I'm very sorry! Honestly there is no excuse as to why I haven't updated but, Enjoy? Thanks for sticking around and still reading! xx

They grab the packaged clothing off the table, stuffing it into their individual bags.

They all start to head out, their gear strapped to there backs as they move forward. Harry walks down the steps quickly, tripping momentarily before steadying himself and continuing out the door, right behind Louis.

He gave him a smile, dimples forming, gathering a smile from him in return.

As they leave onto the sidewalk, Harry spots two cars on the street and opens the door to the car, watching as Louis goes into a separate one down the street.

He opens the door to the car, settling in beside Niall, watching Zayn start the ignition to the car. He sighs as they drive, ready to finish Mr. Dubenich and get him out of their lives for good.

* * *

 Harry listens from across the street, watching as Niall steps up to Mr. Dubenich to talk to him, waiting before his assistant leaves before walking up to him. “ **Well, aren’t you the cat that takes the canary?** ”

He speaks through the coms, and Harry peaks across the street to watch his expressions as he asks. Harry feels as if they really underestimated him in the beginning when he's actually really great at acting. 

“ **Does it show?** ” Mr. Dubenich teases, his hand sloshing the glass in his fingers.

“ **Horrible pokerface** ,” Niall responds, pretending to joke around with the man that tried to kill them, well not Niall, but everyone else.

“ **Why don’t we get this done?** ” Mr. Dubenich announces, gesturing over to the Nigerian officials that were crowded in the corner of the room.

“ **Now?** ” Niall asks surprisingly and Harry shares that surprise as he looks over at Zayn in the car. He wasn’t supposed to want to finish this early in the night, which meant that they had to speed up their original plans.

“ **You have the whole payment?** ” Niall continues, trying to get the look of astonishment off of his face.

“ **Yeah,** ” He replies, biting his lip. “ **Want to make the announcement,** ” Dubenich begins to stutter, taking a sip from his drink to try and mask over it. “ **Get even bigger headlines.** ” he continues. “ **I’ll take them into a conference room, away from all this.** ”

He gestures around the crowded room, pausing at the sign that says ’ _Shareholders meeting_ ’ that they had hanged up that morning.

“ **Go, go, go,** ” Dubenich makes a hand motion to move along and Niall scurries away, ready to quicken the plan at a moments notice.

* * *

 “Gentleman come in,” He moves backward, turning to look at all the officials.

“Make yourselves comfortable.” Mr. Dubenich continues as Niall steps in behind the Nigerian officials.

Niall stays close to the door, ready to flee at a moments notice according to what they had planned.

He looked down at his fingers, paying close attention to what Mr. Dubenich said closely without looking like he was.

“I assume we all understand the terms of this agreement?” one of the men asks, sitting himself down at one of the head chairs in the conference room.

“Well, i’ll tell you,” Mr. Dubenich walks toward the phone settled on the desk, putting his finger over on of the speaker buttons. “The exact terms of this agreement are these!”

“FBI! Don’t move,” the men announce, running into the room suddenly as Mr. Dubenich clicks the button, a loud beeping sound echoing through the conference room. “Are you alright, sir?” The nigerian men answer, “Yes,” at the same time as Mr. Dubenich replies, “Yes, I’m fine.”

The officers crowd around Mr. Dubenich, moving to go and arrest him.

“Wait a minute!” Mr. Dubenich cries out. “Wait a minute!” Panic shows on his face as Mr. Dubenich scans their faces.

“What are you doing?” He moves his hands to get free of their strong grips, then puts his hands up in an act of disbelief.

“What are you standing around here for, the criminals are right there!” He points towards the nigerian officials, who are all sat calmly at their positions at the head of the conference table.

“Listen, I spoke,” He clears his throat to speak louder. “I spoke to special agent Higgens, if you call him on the phone-”

The FBI officer interrupts him mid sentence. “I’m special agent Higgins,” He states, his badge in clear looking distance.

“Victor Dubenich,” he continues “you are under arrest for soliciting a bribe from these _Nigerian_ government officials.”

They start to stand up, moving towards him and showing them there badges as Victor says, “These guys aren’t even Nigerian!”

“Of course we are!” They state back, flipping open their badge for show. Mr. Dubenich starts to stutter. “Your man knew that when he contacted us last week!”

He continues, just as Victor blurts out, “My man?” he then turns around, staring at where Niall should have been.

“Ar - Arnold?” He was gone, not even a _trace_ left behind.

They all searched around the room, gobsmacked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is the last chapter for this part of the story! There will be a second part considering Harry and Louis' love story has just begun! Sadly, I don't know when the second part will be uploaded. Thanks for reading! xx


	8. Wrapping it Up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, we have come to a close! But worry not, haha. There will be a sequel. Thanks for reading! xx

Harry smirks to himself, watching as Mr. Dubenich wipes his forehead with the back of his hands. He looks over to across the street, watching Niall exit the building and look over, a smile making it’s way over his lips.

“ **Special agent Higgins** ,” Harry hears, and watches as Dubenich tries to get this situation they had created back under his control.

Louis continues to type on the laptop in front of him, looking over the technology to stare at all of them around the table for a moment before continuing, gaining them the video feed from inside the conference room.

“ **Arnold McPhire works for them!** ” he attempted to convince the FBI, pointing to the Nigerians in front of him, a desperate look on his face. “ **No, he contacted us on your behalf,** ” the Nigerian man told him, a serious look planted into his features.

“ **He told us that he worked directly under you,** ” spoke the other official from behind the first man. Niall remembered that, he had gone into the office that he had later shown to Mr. Dubenich, welcoming the group of Nigerian officials.

_“Arnold Mcphire, from Bering Aerospace,” he smiled at them, handing them his card that Louis had forged. “Directly under Victor Dubenich.”_

“ **But,** ” Victor stuttered. “ **he took me to their office,** ” his eyes glanced from Higgins to the Nigerians.

“ **No,** ” the Nigerian official replied, “ **we do not have an office in this city,** ” he continued “ **we met him in your other office!** ”

Dubenich looked on at them, dumbfounded, and Liam smiled at what he had done to convince Victor, looking at all of them from around the table with a smirk.

_He screwed the plate onto the wall, covering the original plate. The buzzing sound from the drill continued and finished when it was stuck onto the wood. He took off the drill and stepped back, looking at the Bering Aerospace Logo to admire it quickly before hearing the ding of the elevator, and rushed out of there, hoping Victor didn’t see him and blew their cover._

Victor looked like he wanted to throw up, before his eyes widened, muttering, “ **The shareholders,** ” before rushing out of the room, the FBI and Nigerian officials looking on incredulously, and following.

* * *

 They all smirked, and got up, pushing the chairs into the table and walking across the street, putting their jackets on and listening as the police sirens roared on from down the street, and the men and woman attending the shareholders meeting wandering around to see what’s going on.

They ran into the crowd and Harry locked eyes with Louis’ blue ones before losing him in the sea of FBI agents, who were ready to rush into the building.

* * *

 They slipped through the door, hearing as Victor ran into the area. “No, no!” he yelled, stopping the FBI agents. “Everybody, can I have your attention?” he ignored Agent Higgins as he walked over, continuing to address the problem.

“No worries, it’s just a . . .” he stuttered before finding the right lie. “it’s just a permit problem,”

Special Agent Higgins interrupted, diverting everyone’s attention from Victor. “Is anyone else here involved in the bribe?”

All the guests looked at each other, before a man stepping up confidently. “Bribe!?!” Victor put his hands up in front of him. “Bribe? No bribe!” The Nigerian official came up behind him, locking eyes with the FBI agent.

“I handed this man,” he gestured towards Victor Dubenich. “a envelope containing cash check for two hundred thousand dollars!”

“No! Nobody got a . . . I wasn’t handed . . .” He stuttered, before pausing.

Harry watched his face as Victor figured it out. Watched as he figured out that Niall had switched the check for the one million dollar contract fee.

“I didn’t . . . Nobody handed . . .” Victor attempted to explain once more.

“This would look a lot better if you hadn’t deposited that check.” Special Agent Higgins explained. “Do you still have it?” Victor swallowed visibly, and Louis almost laughed out loud from his position of grabbing one of the boxes beside Harry.

Most of their crew looked the same way.

“I didn’t get a check!” his eye twitched.

“Boss, we’ve got people checking the lab,” another FBI official explained to Agent Higgins. “and checking the computers.”

The man from before whispered angrily into Victor’s ear. “Victor, if they find out about . . .” and Victor responded immediately.

“Higgins!” he cried “Higgins! You can’t do that! You can’t take my computer!”

Higgins turned around to face Mr. Dubenich. “Your business has government defense contracts. There is some very serious rules about contacting foreign nationals,” Victor turned to the Nigerians before paying attention to what the other man was saying.

“The Patriot Act applies here my friend!” Victor looked like he was about to cry, rubbed the back of his neck nervously as the FBI agent got into his face.

“Sir, I can take your underpants.” 

* * *

 Harry and Zayn headed to the other room, posing as FBI agents and hearing the men moving around in it, yelling orders to shred everything before they walked in.

“We have to get rid of this stuff, keep shredding!”

They started throwing the shreds out the window, and Harry watched as Zayn grabbed a box, and gestured for Harry to do the same, waiting so that they could walk out of the building with the others, boxes in hand containing the evidence of the things they had originally stole from Pierson’s company.

The wind blew around them as they all walked out. Harry turned around to Louis behind them, smiling widely.

Louis smiled back, his eyes crinkling fondly at Harry. Harry just looked down, a blush forming on his cheeks from Louis’ intense gaze. He continued to follow Liam and Niall to the car, turning his back on Louis.

* * *

 Harry stood in the circle with Louis, Niall, and Liam, listening in through the coms as Zayn walked up to Pierson, the evidence about the planes held in his hand.

“ **You came alone,** ”

“ **Yes, I know,** ” Zayn replied back. “ **Now, I understand all your evidence was completely wiped out,** ” his face was blank, not letting on that he was the one who had orchestrated the entire deal in the first place.

Louis smiled smugly at his handiwork. While Liam just shook his head with a smile, remembering the night previously when they had done it.

“ **I have complete copies on these hard drives, along with complete proof that they were on Bering Aerospace computers, that should be good for a couple lawsuits.** ”

“ **I dropped the investigations, along with all parties involved with the original theft,** ” his tone hinted at the fact that he knew that Zayn and his crew were the ones who had done it.

“ **That seems fair,** ” Zayn replied. “ **You get all your property back,** ”

“ **Agreed. Nothing on you, or your people,** ”

Zayn just handed him the hard drives, nodding, before turning to walk out the door. “ **Don’t you want money?** ” yelled Pierson.

“ **This particular job has a different revenue stream.** ” replied Zayn, never turning around as he continued to leave, going to meet up with the others.

* * *

 “ **In a massive sellout, with multiple federal investigations of Bering Aerospace, the stock plummeted thirty-three percent . . .** ” The woman on the news informed as Victor watched, his phone beginning to ring, interrupting his concentration.

“Hello?” his hand went up to rub his forehead, a headache forming already.

“ _You know you should’ve just payed us!_ ” Zayn exclaims through the phone, much to Victor’s surprise, his eyes widen, and he leans forward in his chair.

“I found the transmitter!”

“ _No,_ ” Zayn said. “ _you found the transmitter with the blinking light, yeah, we wanted you to at least figure some of it out. Then we just gave you what you were expecting._ ”

“I am Victor Dubenich!” he demanded “I will win this!”

“ _Aren’t you forgetting about the bribe?_ ” Zayn asks, and you could hear the smirk through the tone of his voice. “Who cares?” he replies back. “They can’t prove anything, I didn’t get any money . . .”

Just as he said that, the FBI officials exclaims, “Bingo!” as he holds up the huge stacks of money that was hidden in Victor’s desk drawers.

“ _Well that doesn’t account for all of it,_ ” Zayns voice drifted in as Victor looked shocked. “Niall _kept some of it to buy a truly impressive number of snapbacks,_ ”

“ _See if a companies stock price falls, let say, ten to fifteen percent and you figure it out, you sell short, make lots of money,_ ” Zayn mutters to the shocked man on the other end of the line.

“ _but_ ,” he continued his voice louder. “ _If it’s gonna fall thirty percent, you can make shattering amounts of money,_ ” he continues. “ _Now we didn’t need the FBI to take you to jail, we just needed them to show up and take boxes out of your office, all day long, in front of television cameras, securing your investors, you going to jail was just a bonus,_ ” he mumbled into the phone.

“ _but if you mess with us again, trust me,_ we won’t be so nice.” he hung up.

“Who was that?”

“Nobody.” Victor muttered, his jaw clenched angrily.

* * *

 Zayn joined them in the circle, grabbing an envelope from Louis’ hands that contained the money that they made for this job.

Niall started making noises from the back of his throat, half gasping at the amount of zero’s typed into the check.

“Job well don - “ Zayn opened the beige envelope, his eyes widening as they scanned the paper. “Wow,”

Louis smirked at him. “There was an overlap in the London stock market, and by the ratio, and carry it over the . . .” he stopped himself. “I’m just very good at what I do.”

“This is the score,” Harry mumbled “ _the_ score,” he emphasized, chuckling out of amazement.

“Age of the geek, baby,” Louis said, moving over near Liam. “Somebody kiss this man so I don’t have to.” Liam cried, hitting Louis lightly with affection.

“So, were out,” Louis spoke, gathering all of their attention. Louis and Harry immediately lock eyes, sadness creeping up in them as they met. Niall and Zayn’s eyes were locked next to them. “This is legit, go and buy an Island money,”

“Yeah,” Zayn replied, before clearing his throat, “Pleasure working with all of you.”

“One show only,” Liam said, repeating what he had said when they first separated.

“I already forgot your names.” Harry stated, sadness lacing his words.

They all stared at one another silently, each of them not wanting to finish before sighing and walking away, _separating_ their lives from each other forever.

**Author's Note:**

> Loosely based off the old hit TV show, Leverage. This is my first multi-chaptered fic. Thanks for reading! xx


End file.
